[AMERICANS ABROAD] No American will be under more scrutiny abroad this season than Jozy Altidore following his U.S. record
$13 million move from Dutch club AZ to Sunderland, which kicks off the 2013-14 English Premier League season Saturday against Fulham.

The first time around in the English Premier League,
he was a bust at Hull City (one goal in 28 games). But he is coming off a record season with AZ (31 goals in 41 games) and an even better summer with the U.S. national team (goals in five straight
games, including a hat trick on Sunday), and his manager at Sunderland, Italian Paolo Di Canio, says he expects a big season from his new striker.

After Altidore's three-goal, one-assist game against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday, Di Canio told the Journal:

“I don’t hope he will be a success. I am sure he will be a success. With his characteristics, he will score many goals. He can play very well for the team and can score lots of
goals. His main part is to score goals and to help the others. He is a modern footballer, like you saw last night. He can make lovely movements and we expect that he will score many goals for us. I
don’t know a number, but it won’t be two obviously. Maybe 15 or 17. He will do it if he uses his energy like he did for the national team. He has desire and pride, and I think this
environment here will help him. We spent a good amount of money on him, he was not a free transfer. We brought in four or five players and a few free agents but three or four specifically we had to
spend on.”

Di Canio added Altidore has grown up since his first stint in England and wouldn't hit the goal totals he did at AZ -- 51 in two
seasons -- if he was not a quality striker:

“He is the kind of quality I need. He is the size I need. He is a modern footballer, he jumps hard and
he is an animal. He attacks every space and his first touch is good. He is fantastic finisher and that is a good mixture. We will play good football to help him to score and he is going to have a big
part to play this year. All the signals that we have seen are positive and Wednesday night [for the United States] was an example.”

-- With three Americans (Geoff Cameron, Maurice Edu and injured Brek Shea) on its roster and fourth (Juan Agudelo) headed its way in January, Stoke City kicks off Saturday's EPL play at Liverpool (NBCSN, 7:45 a.m. ET).

-- In Mexico, Tijuana, which has
been regularly playing four Americans (Paul Arriola, Edgar Castillo, Joe Corona
and Greg Garza) travels Saturday to Monterrey (UniMas, 8 p.m. ET). On Sunday, DaMarcus Beasley and Michael Orozco Fiscal play their first game for new coach Ruben Omar Romano as Puebla travels to Guadalajara (UniMas, 6
p.m.)